Paul Stennett

3 Simple Ways to Beat Procrastination

Unless you’re some kind of enlightened guru, you’ve had to deal with the procrastination monster in at least one area of your life.

You know what it’s like.

Case in point: Around the time I got started with Amazing Gains I kept putting off setting up my website for months.

Then one fine morning I woke up to an email from the big site I had submitted a guest post to, telling me they’re posting my article that day. Alex and I broke every record in the book, beat procrastination and got it done before they hit publish.

Why do we do that to ourselves?

Procrastination Monster

Our entrepreneur journey has been the trickiest one. No big boss to command deadlines unto us. No one is forcing our train to move but us.

Every day we still have to wrangle the procrastination monster, but you and I aren’t the type to surrender.

I’ve been trying out different ways to beat procrastination and I want to share with you the ones I found that actually help.

Try them and let me know what you think.

FREE 3-STEP CHEATSHEET

PROCRASTINATION-KICKING GUIDE

Don't put off your dreams. This simple guide will show you exactly how to get started today.

First Name

Email Address

GET THE GUIDE NOW >

You will also receive regular emails from us about personal growth, motivation and learning the online tools to help your business.

Look beneath the surface

One reason we procrastinate is to avoid the pain our brain associates with doing that task. If we peel back all the layers hiding why we rather surf through endless YouTube videos instead of doing what we should, we might just find the truth. Once we have it, we can deal with it and figure out ways to move beyond it. When we shine a light on our monsters we usually see they weren’t that scary to begin with.

Imagine the alternative

Even though we may be procrastinating to avoid the pain of the tough task, it doesn’t mean that procrastination is beneficial. Another way to overcome procrastination is to explore and understand the even greater pain of NOT doing the tough task. This is one of my favorites that I come back to very often. When I find myself sitting at my desk staring at the phone, refusing to pick it up and call a client, I ask myself, “Suppose I never do call this client. Where will my business be in 5 years? Will it even exist?” Then I consider the implications to my life and my family and all the people I don’t get to help… The phone is being dialed by then.

Put some skin in the game

I usually keep this one in my back pocket as a last resort… because it like a W.M.D. It ALWAYS gets the job done, but it will get messy. If you can implement a penalty or punishment that would really hit you where it hurts, you’re gonna do everything in your power to avoid it. Trust me, I’ve never suffered a penalty that I set up. Here’s the catch: someone else has to keep you accountable. Get a friend to hold you to it.

I may not be as creative in my penalties as others are but I know what would really hurt me would be throwing money away at something I would never support in a million years so that’s usually my go to.

Do you have any other techniques that work for you? I’d love to hear about them.

Make sure to download the cheatsheet to help you put these methods into practice. I’ve included the step by step guidance for each one to get you through to accomplishing your tasks.

Talk soon.

FREE 3-STEP CHEATSHEET

PROCRASTINATION-KICKING GUIDE

Don't put off your dreams. This simple guide will show you exactly how to get started today.

First Name

Email Address

GET THE GUIDE NOW >

You will also receive regular emails from us about personal growth, motivation and learning the online tools to help your business.